Extracellular signal-regulated kinase, substance P and neurokinin-1 are involved in the analgesic mechanism of herb-partitioned moxibustion

• Published in: Neural regeneration research Vol. 12; no. 9; pp. 1472 - 1478
• Main Authors: Li, Zhi-yuan, Yang, Yan-ting, Hong, Jue, Zhang, Dan, Huang, Xiao-fei, Wu, Li-jie, Wu, Huan-gan, Shi, Zheng, Liu, Jie, Zhu, Yi, Ma, Xiao-peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.09.2017; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian, Shanghai, China; Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China%Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China%Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian, Shanghai, China%Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Abdomen; Analgesics; Ethanol; Extracellular signal-regulated kinases; Health aspects; Hyperalgesia; Inflammatory bowel disease; Kinases; Laboratory animals; Methods; Moxibustion; mRNA; nerve regeneration; inflammatory bowel disease; visceral pain; herb-partitioned moxibustion; analgesic effect; Tianshu (ST25); Qihai (CV6); dorsal root ganglion; extracellular signal-regulated kinase; substance P; neurokinin-1; neural regeneration; Neuropeptides; Pain; Pain management; Physiological aspects; Polyclonal antibodies; Proteins; P物质; Rodents; Substance P; 中药; 机制; 神经激肽; 细胞外信号调节激酶; 肠道疾病; 镇痛作用; United States > US; China; Qihai (CV6); Tianshu (ST25); extracellular signal-regulated kinase; visceral pain; neural regeneration; dorsal root ganglion; analgesic effect; nerve regeneration; herb-partitioned moxibustion; substance P; neurokinin-1; inflammatory bowel disease
• ISSN: 1673-5374; 1876-7958
• DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.215259

Herb-partitioned moxibustion can effectively mitigate visceral pain, a major symptom in inflammatory bowel disease, but the analgesic lnechanism is still unclear. Moreover, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, substance P, and neurokinin-1 are involved in formation of central hyperalgesia. Thus, we postulated that the analgesic effect of herb-partitioned moxibustion may be associated with these factors. Accordingly, in this study, we established an inflammatory bowel disease visceral pain model in rat by enema with a mixed solution of 5% trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid and 50% ethanol. Bilateral Tianshu （ST25） and Qihai （CV6） points were selected for herb-partitioned moxi- bustion. Our results showed that herb-partitioned moxibustion improved visceral pain and down-regulated extracellular signal-regulated kinase, substance P, and neurokinin-1 protein and mRNA expression in dorsal root ganglia. These results indicate that down-regulation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase, substance E and neurokinin-1 protein and mRNA may be a central mechanism for the analgesic effect of herb-partitioned moxibustion.